Just want to draw your attention to this puff piece on N-Dubz in the Observer..

[Janos]

Remember the delightful chap from why it's fine to grab a girls arse even if she's told you to eff off (paraphrasing) thread?

Well, he's part of this group who had this delightful puff piece written about them in The Observer, which I believe still purports to be a quality broadsheet.

Lots of gushing drivel about how positive, "buoyant, irrepressible and infectious" he is though.

He's such a great guy, apart from the fact he has assaulted one woman and made death threats against another.

What a jolly japester!

This group = N-Dubz

NB - sorry for multiple postings. No idea how that happened!

I've no idea how quickly the media expect people to forget stuff or why. I, for one, did not mourn the loss of Michael paedophile Jackson.

I don't know it's 'forgetting' so much as 'not giving a shit' posie :(.

It's ok as long as you have done good music/movies (Gary Glitter = bad; Roman Polanski = ok)

Yep, once again we have a great example of how 'artists' are allowed to get away with all sorts of shitty behaviour, or have it excused, because of their talent.

Ok, I know he didn't 'get away' with it strictly speaking (hence the court case) but it isn't referred to at all during the article, just as if it never happened.

The threatening texts thing was horrible, the bum-pinching (and subsequent refusal to accept he had done much wrong) was horrible - but what do you want to happen?
Every piece I've read about them they are described as hard=working, kind, polite, charming etc... nobody is all one thing or another, there are grey areas and clearly there are aspects of them to dislike but other aspects to admire.
They deserve to be pulled over the coals fro the shitty things they've done (on the texting thing they were removed as ambassadors for an anti-bullying campaign, and there were charges brought against the sleazy groper) but they also deserve to be praised in the way they have been in this article.
I think ther's a tipping point though - Gary Glitter and Polanski, in my mind, have certainly gone past any redemption. This lot have not.

Yes, you're right....I wonder (thinking of the recent feminism thread) if the girl in N-dubz had falsely accused someone of groping whether or not the media 'wouldn't give a shit'?

I do find it odd though that there was no mention of the "bum pinching" court case.

Polly Vernon seems fairly non-plussed by him though. The outher two are "intriguing" and "preposterously charming" while Fazer is just "a competent sidekick". Perhaps she reagrds him as of no particualy interest? Or more likely at the moment any interviews are granted on the basis that the incident is not discussed? But thn she could still mention it in the piece if not the interview so...hmm, not sure. Does seem strange though.

Ditto cheryl cole = from conviction for violent assault (found not guilty of racially aggravated) to nations sweetheart

A lot of what the media spews out is depressing shite.

They are fully to blame for a lot of societies views about a lot of tihngs IMO (thinking rape, mainly)

FallingwithStyle..

Yes, what they (actually it's just the one guy, isn't it - Dappy?) have done is not as bad as Glitter/Polanksi. That's not my point though.

The fact that it wasn't even considered as worthy of mentioning is what bothers me. As if sexual assault is just 'one of those things', so common or garden or even expected that it's not worth bringing up or confronting someone over.

Janos - no, it's two seperate incidents/people.

Dappy was the one who got that girls number and sent malicious texts. Fazer is the gropey-groper.

I cant believe that incident was not mentioned because it was so inconsequential though. Was a fairly big story. So even if PV didn't think he had done much wrong she would surely still have mentioned it if able to. I think so anyway, I'm sure there must have been some kind of agreement (whilst shitty, that would at least indicate the band/their management see it as something to be pretty ashamed of?).

"Or more likely at the moment any interviews are granted on the basis that the incident is not discussed? But thn she could still mention it in the piece if not the interview so..."

I was thinking along those lines too.

It really does bother me that she makes no reference to it whatsoever - and I can't imagine any decent journalist going along to interview them for a big piece, would not be aware of their 'history'.

You're quite right FWS - I realised that when I went back to read the BBC news article. My mistake.